Over the past ten years, Bridgwater College has pioneered Forest School in the UK and developed a curriculum that aims to meets the needs of the individuals -not the reverse. We have worked with children from the age of three, from early years settings, family centres, and special and mainstream schools, and some children with emotional behavioural difficulties and challenging behaviour.
Given the breadth of our experience of Forest School, I want here to:
* explain how to become a Forest leader
* set out the lessons that we have learned
* give pointers for good practice to help both leaders and children make the most of the Forest School experience.
Becoming a leader
* Hold a Level 3 qualification to enable you to work with your current group, such as a DCE.
* Complete the Level 3 Forest School Leaders Award, with an outdoor first aid qualification and CRB check.
* Access an outdoor space with children over a period of time.
* Have knowledge of and work safely within your local 'Guidance for Schools'. A copy of this document should be based within all LEA provision in the UK. If in doubt, contact your local authority. We work within Somerset County Council's Code of Practice: Safety in offsite activities, volume 5.
* Complete all relevant risk assessments as set out by your local authority.
* Ensure your organisation has the relevant insurance for running outside experiences.
* Have all the relevant medical and emergency equipment with you at all times.
* Once training and coursework is completed successfully, you will have the knowledge and skills to share Forest School with children, parents and colleagues.
Parental involvement
Parents and carers may be apprehensive about their children going to potentially hazardous sites, unhappy about the mess that children may encounter and uncertain about the learning that may occur at Forest School.
The more parents understand, the better the experience will be for their children. Therefore:
* Get parental consent for visits to off-site venues.
* Run a parents' session to explain your intentions.
* Let them experience the site for themselves - they are much more likely to give their support when they see what their children will be experiencing.
* Explain that their child will probably return muddy and wet, and ask them to be patient with them. Explain that getting muddy is an important part of the learning process.
* Be aware that parents' insecurities may stem from their own childhood experiences of the outdoors - or lack of them. If possible, tap into a positive memory and their concerns may soon fade.
* Show the parents films or pictures of earlier children at Forest School (with permission from the previous participants). Include clips of children developing their physical skills using tools such as saws. It is unlikely the parent will not permit their child to participate fully once they have seen the evidence.
* Take 'before', 'during' and 'after' photographs that the children can print and take home to show their parents on the same day.
* Consider involving parents in a session in which their child is not involved.
* Where possible, incorporate parents' knowledge and skills into your plans.
* Keep parents informed and up-to-date about the day's Forest School session.
* Make a diary of the group's experiences.
* Keep a portfolio of each child's experience and interests within each session. It could be linked to the Foundation Stage, incorporating individual schematic interests, and include photographic or video evidence.
* Encourage the child to take their portfolio home to share with their parents.
Programme planning
To plan effectively for a child at Forest School, build a relationship with them, observe how they learn, find out what makes them tick, and then offer them experiences relevant to them personally. The result is supported, individual, accelerated learning at a deep level.
* Ensure all the adults that you are working with understand your aims for the Forest School experience.
* Create safety games that form an integral part of your provision (see page 18). Remember you want the children to be responsible for using these themselves, so make them fun, not scary.
* Don't just hope for a good day - plan for one. Have a focus for the programme. Although it should end up being child-led, you will need a starting point.
* Set small, achievable goals. If an experience is delivered one step at a time, the children will gradually gain the confidence to attempt a more challenging next step.
* Provide real experiences and consider the 'real' reason for the experience, then how to deliver it, and only finally the curriculum. Aims for the initial session might be to dress in suitable outdoor clothing, and understanding basic routines will help sessions run smoothly.
* Extend the time of your sessions slowly. Allow children to revisit previous experiences and build on them.
* Plan more experiences than you have time to deliver.
* Trust the children to show you what they want to learn about next.
* Set small achievable goals for the staff team. Only do what you feel safe with; don't set yourselves up to fail.
* Give all adults the chance to stand back and observe, as this will help develop practice and feed into the evaluation of each session. Use knowledge from observations of the children at nursery for future Forest School sessions.
* Use the strengths from within the team to benefit the team, and also apply this to work with the children.
* Give the children reasonable responsibilities within a session - they will repay you the trust you have shown them.
* Involve the children in taking photographic or video records. Write observations and record developments for the children's portfolios. Give parents the opportunity to offer feedback about their child's time outside.
Incorporate their comments in your planning.
* Be prepared for a change in weather conditions and alter your programme to accommodate the needs of the group. On a cold day do physical activities; on a hot day, stationary activities. Monitor the group, as chances are if one child is very cold the others in the group are about to become cold too. End the session early while everyone is still happy. End all sessions on a positive rather than a negative note.
* Take something back to the setting, and use this as a conversation starter. Watch a child's face light up as they recount every detail about their Forest School treasure and where they found it.
* Ensure that you have all the relevant paperwork and equipment in place before you begin the programme.
Risk assessment
Examine carefully what in your work could potentially cause harm and decide whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm. The risk of harm may be high or low. Record your findings, review your assessment, and share it with those who may be affected by it, including your employers.
* Assess risks in every aspect of every session, continually, from the moment you leave the setting to when the children are returned to their parents. If in any doubt, remove the group from the situation and return home early, but happy and safe.
* Involve children in your ongoing risk assessments. They will learn valuable life skills from it.
Child behaviour
Be aware that traveling by minibus and going into woodland will be a very big step for young children. Many will feel unsure and unsettled in the potentially scary and hazardous environment. Use games as part of your programme to build their confidence.
Recognise that children's behaviour is often very different outdoors than indoors. Being outdoors often fosters a sense of well-being.
Keyworker systems
Ensure that a child's keyworker attends every session, as it is the keyworker who is the 'significant other' to the child and the one who knows them best. This role is vital, because after a woodland session it is the keyworker who is able to help the child transfer the woodland learning and skills back into the nursery.
The keyworker plans follow-up work, and relates the child's day and home experiences back to the woodland session. Forest School relates holistically to a child's life.
At the start you won't know the children well, so ensure that you give all observed feedback to the keyworker. They are with you to offer the emotional support that each individual child needs.
Adult support
Forest School is a great leveller. Children who are noisy in the nursery may become quieter; less confident children may start to flourish in a way you've not seen before. At the start of the programme, encourage the children to help/wait for their Forest School friends. Continue this model of good practice throughout and by the end, you will have encouraged the children's social and emotional awareness to develop to a new level.
* Make time for questions and answers and urge the children to solve problems.
* Give the children individual praise and recognition as they achieve each step of a challenge, no matter how small it may be. This will help them to gain the confidence to make and meet their own agenda.
* Recognise child input - however small - and praise them for it. Ask the child if they would like to share their ideas with the rest of the group.
If they decline, respect this; ask them if you can share their idea.
* Respect any child's decision not to join in. You may find that the child is the first to ask to do the activity next time and becomes the initiator of deep-level learning experiences for others in the group.
* Listen to the person who has the deepest relationship with the child.
* Trust the children to ask for help and support when they need it, not when an adult feels they need it.
* If a child is focused on his own experience, allow him to follow it through, no matter how long it takes.
* Never be afraid to tell a child that you don't know the answer - they will rise to the challenge of finding it out for you!.
